By UCA News reporter
MYANMAR – A senior Church official in Myanmar’s earthquake-stricken capital, Mandalay, has called the suffering brought forth by the disaster an opportunity for unity and interreligious dialogue.
“This suffering has also become an opportunity for profound interreligious dialogue,” said Father Peter Kyi Maung, Vicar General of the Mandalay Archdiocese, the Vatican’s missionary news service Fides reported on Apr 7.
Maung said Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay was constantly traveling, offering comfort by speaking and praying with the displaced and sick, a majority of them Buddhists.
The Sacred Heart Cathedral in Mandalay has become a refuge for the earthquake victims “regardless of ethnicity or religion,” he said.
“Parishioners have worked hard to alleviate the suffering of the victims,” which includes Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus who have taken temporary shelter within the Cathedral compound.
Catholic volunteers have collected donations and distributed relief items such as food, water, medicine, emergency shelter, and hygiene items to people whose homes were destroyed in the quake.
“The urgent work now is to assist those who have found themselves on the streets,” Joseph Kung, a Catholic, told Fides.
“They need drinking water and food. There is now a risk of diarrhea, respiratory, and skin diseases due to poor hygienic conditions,” Kung added.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar’s Mandalay-Sagaing region on Mar 28 caused widespread devastation and deaths.
Homes, hospitals, schools, and vital infrastructure have been reduced to rubble, affecting some 17 million people and killing some 3,400 people as of April 6.
Over 9.1 million people live in the hardest-hit areas, including Mandalay and Sagaing, where most people sleep under makeshift shelters.
Even before the earthquake struck Myanmar, an estimated 19.9 million people were in need due to ongoing conflict, displacement, and economic hardship.
An estimated 4,500 people have been injured, and 220 people have been reported missing.
Widespread damage has been reported to 41,000 houses, 3,300 religious facilities, and 1,800 schools.
It is also estimated that more than 500,000 people do not have access to life-saving care, while more than 100,000 pregnancies are at risk due to quake-damaged hospitals, OCHA said.
Meanwhile, the Mandalay Archdiocese is completing its damage assessment.
Some 14 buildings, including churches, seminaries, and other facilities under the archdiocese, have been reported as damaged.
The damaged churches include the Sacred Heart Cathedral and the churches of Saint Francis Xavier, Saint John, and Saint Michael in Mandalay.
Saint Michael’s Church in Thanwin Township, Saint Joseph’s Church in Lafon, Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Yamethin, and Saint Vincent de Paul Church in Zawgyi have also been damaged.
The Mandalay archbishop’s residence and rectory, Saint John Paul Educational Institute, the Mother Teresa Home for the Sick, the intermediate Seminary in Mandalay, and the minor Seminary in Pyin Oo Lwin have also been damaged.
Fides reported that Bishop Augustine Thang Zawm Hung of Mindat’s episcopal ordination ceremony, which was slated to take place in Mandalay, has been rescheduled for Apr 27 in Yangon’s Saint Mary’s Cathedral. – UCA News
